Uktar 2, 1372 DR (8:00 AM) Dagger Falls

In the morning, following a light breakfast, Randal Morn sees the
three heroes to the gates of Dagger Falls. "Good luck!" he says.

"Thank you!" says Brianna, smiling. She conjures three more Phantom
Steeds and the heroes ride like the wind back to the Dordrien
Crypts. As they approach, they see Veracity, seated on a rock near the
door, waiting for them. When she sees her returning companions, she
stands up, grinning broadly.

All three dismount and Brianna comes over for a hug.

"How did it go?" asks Veracity.

"It could hardly have gone better," says Brianna. "I'll tell you all.
As hoped, Randal Morn gave me a nice reward." She pats the bag of
coins, which jingles.

"Well done!" says Veracity. The group enters the Dordrien Crypts.
Veracity turns and pulls the door shut behind her. She sprinkles some
gold dust on it, mutters, and makes an arcane gesture. The door seems
to pull itself even more firmly shut. "That's it," she says. "It'll
take either magic or intense strength to open this from either
direction, now."

Veracity escorts her party safely back to the entry hall of the Inverted
Tower. "We're leaving for Maerimydra today." She takes Brianna's hand.
"Let's go to our room." Looking to Kress and Igor, she continues, "We'll
collect our stuff and be up, by and by. Perhaps you can wake Hazen up,
Kress?"

"Right," says Kress. He and Igor fly up to the second door. Veracity
and Brianna run up the walls to the first door. All enter their
respective quarters.

Veracity sits on the bed and pats the blanket at her side. "Come, sit.
Tell me all that happened in Dagger Falls."

Brianna sits next to her and recounts the tale to her companion. When
she tells of Randal Morn's appreciative comments following her song,
she pulls out the sack of treasure he'd handed her and passes it to
Veracity, who opens it up and pours out the contents on the bed.
"Very nice, Brianna. Money and gems worth, oh, five thousand gold
coins? Good thing it wasn't all gold pieces - that would have weighed
a hundred pounds or so and you'd be staggering!"

"True enough," says Brianna. "In fact, I'm sorry to say that even
Velasta's elven chain is a bit heavy for me. If I wear it and also
carry that shield, then with my backpack, weapons, and lute, I am
encumbered. I think I need to either abandon the shield, or switch to
that mithral shirt." She shakes her head sadly and sighs.

"You look very good in Velasta's armor," says Veracity, "and having
both hands free is a good thing. Perhaps you can do without the
shield?"

"Perhaps," agrees Brianna.

Veracity replaces Randal Morn's reward into its sack and hefts it.
She looks slyly at Brianna. "Was this a reward for your singing, or
for the party? Based on what he said, we could argue either way."

Brianna grins at her. "I expect it was the latter. But, I'm sure
we'll discuss it later. Will you carry it for me?" Veracity nods and
stows the pouch in her pack. Brianna finishes her story.

Veracity sits in silence, pondering. "Well done! Sounds like you had
fun, too!" Brianna nods. "All was quiet here, while you were gone.
Tebryn and Solom seemed to have a lot to talk about. Hazen wanted to
go shopping again, but the merchants had cleared out. Dessa came by to
talk to me. Hmm ..." She thinks for a bit before continuing, "She
wanted my help in restoring her house's position in Szith Morcane.
She said something about how 'he', meaning Solom, had inappropriate
plans."

"How did you deal with that?" asks Brianna. "From what you've told me
about drow society, I can see why Dessa wouldn't want a male taking
charge here."

"Exactly," says Veracity. "She's got a point - except that a drow
matriarchy is headed by the priestesses of Lolth - and they are all
crippled by Lolth's silence. Look what happened in House Morcane when
Dorina invaded it. That would never have happened if the priestesses
had been at full power. Anyway, I advised Dessa to work with Solom
and not to force a power struggle, and that hopefully everything would
work out well for her house eventually. She didn't come right out and
demand that I join her against Solom, although she may have been
implying it."

"I don't know what else you could have told her," says Brianna. She
looks around the room. "Shall we gather our stuff and go upstairs?"

"Sure," says Veracity, wrapping her arms around her friend. "Lets do
that."

An hour and a half later, they rejoin the rest of their party in the
instructional room.

"What kept you?" says Igor. "We're having a little debate here."

Veracity shrugs. "Is Hazen up yet? What's the question?"

"I used diamond dust to restore Hazen and Dessa," says Yol. "Not
everybody thinks it's the party's business to pay for restoring them."

"I'm up!" says Hazen. "And, we always pay for raising and otherwise
fixing up party members."

"Dessa is not a party member," says Igor.

"Then of course we should pay for her," says Kress. "We rescued her,
so we need to give her a reward!"

Igor rolls his eyes and laughs, before getting serious again. "I'm not
sure we should pay for either Restoration," he persists.

Tebryn raises his eyebrows. "Is that right? I'd have thought you, of
all people, Igor, would see your way towards doing that. Not that it
applies to this exact party, but, look at this." He extracts a
scroll from his pouch. "I made a copy of this quite a while ago.
Recognize it?" He hands it to Igor.

Igor unfurls it and his eyebrows raise, in turn. He smiles and
chuckles. "This is
Tumulo's contract."

"What are you talking about?" says Veracity. "Tumulo is our house mate
in Sigil. We've adventured together several times, but he never said
anything about a contract."

"Yeah!" says Hazen. "Let's see it."

"He wrote this many years ago, before he had completely learned to
read and write. He insisted that all of his companions sign it," says
Igor. He spreads out the parchment. "See? It says:"

Kontrak

1)

Ded 'oar krepped up guys get ful tresher picks. if
dey fot in bottel which let us take it.

Veracity laughs. "I never knew he had this! I know all of those
people, except Lefteris and Max. Elvira, Vandis, Igor are all his
house mates in Sigil. And you, Nick. You never told me about signing
this."

Tebryn scowls. "Well. It's harmless. Some of it's obsolete: we deal
with treasure more rationally, these days. But," he says, pointing to
the added sentence, "as I said, I don't see how Igor, of all people,
would be unwilling to pay for restoration - unless, perhaps,
he's always been unwilling, which is why Tumulo had to mention him by
name?"

They hear a knock at the door. Solom enters. "Ah," he says, rubbing
his hands together. "You look like you are about ready to go. Would
you care to dine with me, before you go?"

"Certainly," says Veracity. Everybody follows Solom up to his audience
chamber, where a large table had been set up. All seat themselves and
servants bring in food and drink. All engage in pleasant conversation.
Finally, at the end of the meal, Solom leads the party down to the
entrance hall of the Inverted Tower.

"To get to Maerimydra, you must follow the tunnel leading out of the
Commoners' level of Szith Morcane. Take the entrance through the
Bazaar and follow the path. Take the left fork, climb a hill, take
the right fork, climb another hill, turn left before the stream, take
the right fork, climb a third hill, and you'll come to an iron grate
that leads into the deeper Underdark," he explains, as all concentrate
on his instructions. He peers at Veracity, and then to each of the
other drow in turn. "A word to the wise: when we go through, we always
go well-armed and as quickly as possible."

Solom bows. "Thank you for your aid. You will find welcome in Szith
Morcane any time you come back."

Veracity bows in return. "And thank you for your aid! Farewell!"

Solom returns to his quarters and the party moves out into the foyer
and prepares to exit onto the webbing. Suddenly, Veracity draws her
weapons and wheels to face a corner of the entrance way. From the
exact direction she faces, Dessa charges in out of the shadows. "You
have betrayed me," she screams, as she swings her rapier at Veracity,
missing.

Veracity responds by hitting Dessa three times with her two swords.
Yol gapes. "What is this?" Tebryn rolls his eyes, shakes his head,
and throws up his hands. "Get her, sister!" he calls. Igor moves
behind Dessa, drawing his weapon. "Why are you doing this?" he asks.
Hazen moves up next to Igor, drawing his sap. "Move out the way,
Igor!" he calls. Kress simply draws his battle-axe but does not
move. Brianna wrings her hands and stares in horror. "This is not
heroic!" she laments.

Dessa ignores everybody except Veracity. She swings with great force
and slices her foe. Her next two blows miss wildly.

Veracity strikes Dessa once. With the distraction, and not wanting to
cause real damage, Igor takes the opportunity to smack Dessa in the
side the head with his fist. Veracity strikes Dessa two more times.
Yol chants and waves a bone at Dessa, who completely ignores the fear
spell. Tebryn continues to cheer for his sister. Igor flubs a swing
with his sword and then hits Dessa with the flat of his blade. The
enraged barbarian falls unconscious.

"Why in the world did she do that?" wonders Igor.

"Let's kill her and then ask her," suggests Veracity. "You can speak
with the dead, today, Yol?"

"I'd rather not do that," responds the ever-merciful Yol.

"I'll tell you what I think," says Hazen. "This is one crazy broad."

"Let me energy drain her," suggests Veracity, filled with blood
lust.

"No," says Hazen, "Everybody is allowed one mistake. But, we may as
well take back the stuff we gave her. Igor, you get your way in the
end. We aren't going to reward Dessa with equipment, after all."

"If you'd just listen to me in the first place, you'd save yourselves
a lot of time and aggravation," responds Igor with a chuckle.

"Hmph," grumbles Veracity. She stands to the side and pulls a black
stone from a pouch and fingers it, while watching the rest of the
party strip off Dessa's 'gifts', recovering the mithral shirt, ring of
protection, cloak of resistance and rapier.

"Let's go," suggests Tebryn. All file out onto the web, save for
Veracity who stares at Dessa, muttering. After her last companion
leaves the foyer, a thin black ray shoots from the stone in her hand
and strikes the unconscious drow, who shudders, and seems to shrivel a
bit. Veracity grimaces at her and turns towards the door, to see Yol
and Igor looking at her. Yol half smiles, nods, and turns away.

"What was that?" asks Igor.

Veracity shrugs and stows her godstone. "Spite," she responds,
before pushing past him onto the web. Igor follows without further
comment.